Rohingyas could face persecution, if returned to Myanmar: UN official

Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar due to violence could face further persecution if they return to the country now, said a United Nations official.

Adama Dieng, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who visited Bangladesh, the destination for the refugees said that international crimes have been committed against the Muslim minority group, who had to flee the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Over 700,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar had arrived in Bangladesh in just six months.

“Rohingya Muslims have been killed, tortured, raped, burnt alive and humiliated, solely because of who they are,” Dieng said.

“All the information I have received indicates that the intent of the perpetrators was to cleanse northern Rakhine state of their existence, possibly even to destroy the Rohingya as such, which, if proven, would constitute the crime of genocide,” he said.